[Roberta sees a surprise performance at a gallery opening last night. — the Artblog editors]
The exhibit Roth opened last night at Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery. In addition to the group show — which celebrates the first Dieter Roth exhibit at the University of the Arts in 1966 and which is great — the new floors, newly-flattened interior wall (remember that circular wall?) and spiffed up ceiling in the gallery bring the gallery’s infrastructure nicely into the 21st century!
Speaking of walls, this happened last night. The piece is by Erwin Wurm and it’s called Theory of Painting, 2007/2014, instruction drawing. I am not sure who the agile performer is but she did a heroic job and held the pose for 1 minute (part of the instructions).
Among the many other notable works in the heady show are two sculptural paintings or painted sculptures by Chris Martin, both of which use similar motifs to those by Roth some decades earlier. (According to curator Sid Sachs, Roth had a series of garden gnome statues he coated with chocolate and he had a bread mold piece.) Sachs’s show pulls together contemporaneous works that have allegiance (intended or otherwise) to those made by Roth. It’s a great show–get out there and see it! And be sure to try the Erwin Wurm instructional drawing challenge. It’s interactive and there for you to complete. There are actually two Wurm instructional drawings — the other involves two tennis balls on a pedestal that your face must interact with.
